


Secrets & Spoiled Plans

by afteriwake



Series: Where Speech Ends [11]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-26
Updated: 2015-06-26
Packaged: 2018-04-06 07:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4212864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock has been acting secretive lately, and Molly is concerned. After an unexpected visit from Mycroft on the day of her and Sherlock's six month anniversary Molly finds out exactly why he's been secretive, despite things not going according to plan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets & Spoiled Plans

**Author's Note:**

  * For [horrorfangirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/horrorfangirl/gifts).



> And Mycroft's back (because Mycroft being involved was something **horrorfangirl** wanted). Plus, you know, meddling brother is always fun. The song inspiring this story is "Disappear" by INXS, which, while it is not my favorite song by the group, is the one that I think sums up the Sherlock/Molly relationship best.

**What do you like about dating? What don't you like?**

She had to admit, she was quite happy to actually be able to tell people she was dating Sherlock. It had been over a month since he'd walked out with her in public while holding her hand in a clear sign to the world that yes, they were dating. It was very nice to be able to go out and actually _act_ like a couple. The first few dates they had been on after he admitted he was in a relationship there had been a small swarm of photographers following them, and that was mildly annoying. And seeing the speculation in the tabloids wasn't particularly pleasant. But she'd go through it a million times just to be able to go out in public with her boyfriend and have the world know it.

The attention seemed to be dying down, though, and she was quite thankful for that. She had the feeling he was quite grateful for it as well. He'd have an expression on his face when there was someone with a camera as though he wanted to possibly do some bodily harm, but usually a squeeze of the hand and a quiet word of encouragement from her that soon they would be inside a building or in a taxi would be enough to make the moment pass. It happened much less frequently now, and she felt that had something to do with the scandalous antics of a certain beloved child star grown into wild adult and the bad boy member of one of the reigning pop groups. Whatever the reason, the attention being off the two of them was lovely.

Sherlock had been acting secretive the last few days, though, and that had made her concerned. He was actively keeping something from her, and that wasn't like him. He was honest with her and quite open, maybe even to a fault. It was as though he had done a complete 180 degree turn in how he treated her when it came to secrets once they started dating, so for him to go back to sly and secretive ways was concerning, and she felt she should address it. But probably not tonight; while she was not the type to be fanatical about anniversaries, she felt they should do _something_ considering today it had been exactly six months since their first date. It was definitely a milestone that should be recognized.

She was currently at work, in the middle of a complicated autopsy, when there was a knock at the swinging doors leading into her work area. She frowned; no one ever knocked. If there was a body they were simply brought in with someone calling out and asking where she wanted it, and if it was a DI needing autopsy reports they came in and simply waited. She sighed and then looked up. “I'm a bit busy at the moment so just come in, all right?”

The doors opened and she saw a man looking awkward stride in. “I've been sent here by Mr. Holmes,” he said.

“Which one?” she asked, tilting her head slightly.

“The eldest,” he replied. “He needs to speak with you.”

“Well, as you can see, I'm in the middle of an autopsy,” she said, gesturing with the small intestines she currently had in her hand. The man near the door looked a bit green when she did that. “If Mycroft wants to speak to me he'll need to come in here. It's going to take at least another hour and a half for me to finish and it's not the type of thing I can stop in the middle of.”

“I'll...tell him,” the man said.

“If you're going to vomit there's a washroom on the left, down the hall,” she said, going back to her work. “Try your best to make it there.” She heard the door be pushed open rather hard and the pounding of feet on the floor until the door closed behind him. She had relative peace and quiet for nearly forty minutes and then the doors opened again. She glanced up again and saw Mycroft standing there, metal point of his umbrella on the floor and hands crossed as they gripped the handle. “Next time you might want to send someone to fetch me who's used to the sight of dead bodies.”

“I was rather pressed for time when I picked him,” he said. “I didn't think a person could spend nearly twenty minutes retching before they realized they had nothing left to vomit up.”

“Well, he must have overestimated how much his stomach could hold. Either that or he had dry heaves and didn't want to embarrass himself in front of you by vomiting up something he hadn't counted on,” she said, going back to her autopsy. “Why were you attempting to kidnap me?”

“We need to talk about Sherlock,” he said. “He has seemed extremely...secretive lately. More than usual. I was wondering if you had any insight into it.”

“Haven't the foggiest,” she said. “He's being secretive with me as well, which is unusual.”

“I see,” he said. “Then it must have something to do with you.”

Her head jerked up at that. “Why do you think it has something to do with me?” she asked, her eyes wide.

“Because he tells you everything, even things he shouldn't. I had to increase your level of government clearance to match his since he won't stop telling you about the cases he works for me.”

“Thank you, I suppose?” she asked warily.

“Justifying it to my superiors was quite easy, surprisingly, even when the fact the two of you are in a relationship was not known to the world at large.” He lifted up his umbrella and moved closer until he was next to the body, directly across from her. “It can either be a good thing or a bad thing, his secretive state with you. Either he is planning some sort of grand gesture for you, or he's been alerted to a threat against you. The trick is finding out what situation we are dealing with.”

She lowered her scalpel. “We?”

He nodded. “I think in this instance you and I should work together to piece the disparate clues we have to come to the correct conclusion.”

Molly sighed. “Mycroft, as much as I would love to be of assistance, it's going to take me at least another forty-five minutes to finish this, barring any more distractions.”

“Then we can speculate as you work.”

“Speculating as I work qualifies as a distraction,” she said, an edge to her voice.

Mycroft's eyes widened ever so slightly, and then he nodded. “I see. Then I will wait in your office for you to finish.”

“Fine,” she said, slightly annoyed she wasn't going to get to escape this conversation. While she had to admit that the potential that something might be wrong was worrisome, Sherlock hadn't been acting like she was in any immediate danger, so she assumed that whatever secret it was he was keeping was harmless. Mycroft was overreacting, and she was going to have to deal with it. She sighed again and went back to work. The actual tests she would need to run could wait until the autopsy was over, she supposed, and it would be nice to have something to focus on after what she got the feeling was going to be a frustrating conversation with Mycroft.

Finally she was finished, and she stripped off her gloves and tossed them into her medical waste bin. She made her way to the office and saw Mycroft in the second chair in the room, concentrating on his phone. She went to her own chair and sat down. When he went a full minute without acknowledging her she spoke. “I still have tests I need to run to determine whether the death was of natural causes or foul play.”

“Foul play,” he said without looking up.

She blinked. “How could--”

“The distinctive odor emanating from the abdominal cavity. It was poison. A very specific kind,” He gestured to a pad of paper in front of her computer screen. She turned slightly and picked it up. There was a very complicated chemical name on it, as well as a listing of various components of the chemical. “That is the poison, which makes it a case of national security, which means Sherlock will need to be brought into it. He will be here in an hour.” He stowed his phone. “And the matter to which I came to talk to you about has been settled. He will be back to his normal non-secretive self with you shortly.”

She raised an eyebrow at him. “How did you figure it out?” she asked.

“I seem to have disrupted some plans he had in play,” he said. “Today is your six month anniversary, and I'm pulling him away from a special evening he'd planned for the both of you.”

“Oh,” she said, feeling a warmth inside her. It was actually quite a pleasant feeling knowing that the secretiveness was because Sherlock had planned something and wanted it to be a surprise. She would have to figure out a way to show him just how happy it made her. “Well, we'll figure out a way to celebrate, hopefully.”

“Provided he works hard on this case first,” Mycroft said. “There is a time issue with this. It must be solved within forty-eight hours.”

“He'll do it,” she said with conviction.

“He'd better.” He stood up and looked at her. “Scotland Yard will no longer be involved in the investigation, so when you finish the testing you need to do and give the results to Sherlock make sure I also receive a copy. My brother and I are the only people you can tell about what you discover, as a highly classified project is involved.”

She nodded. “All right,” she said.

He made his way to the door and then paused. “Continue to treat my brother well, Ms. Hooper. I like the changes I have seen you make in him.”

“I will,” she said, and after he nodded once Mycroft left her office. She sat there for a moment, then went back to the tissue samples she had taken to gather them up and take them to the lab. Her mind was running over all sorts of thoughts so she took her iPod and plugged it into the speakers she kept there and let the songs play randomly. She was hard at work when the door opened and Sherlock stalked in. She took one look at his face and cringed slightly. He was _extremely_ irritated. “I'm sure we can do something special when this is all over,” she suggested with some hesitation in her voice as a new song came on.

“He told you I'd planned something?” Sherlock said exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. “Wonderful. I had hoped there could still be some surprise left out of all this.”

“I thought it was quite sweet,” she said, moving away from the microscope she'd been looking in. “But it's all right if we don't do it tonight.”

“Tonight was the only night I could get tickets. Non-refundable tickets, I might add. There was a symphony performance with some of the best musicians in the world performing Tchaikovsky.” He looked down. “And then there are the dinner reservations, though those I suppose I could see about getting in two days.”

“You can give the tickets to John and Mary. I doubt I'll be needed past my shift, so I can always watch Ava for them,” she suggested. “And maybe we can do something when they get back. I mean, it's not the same as a date, but still, it could be nice.”

“I suppose,” he said. “Though I get the feeling it will be quite late by the time I'm available to spend time with you.”

“Well, I have the day after tomorrow off, so we can make a very late date of it,” she said with a smile. “Even if it's not on our actual anniversary.”

“But doesn't that defeat the purpose?” he asked.

“Not to me,” she said, moving closer to him. “I think with this relationship I'm much more flexible.”

“It's all still so new to me,” he said. “Coming up with actual dates are hard, though admittedly it was harder before, when we were keeping our relationship secret. But I feel a desire to impress you all the time and that's bothersome.”

“Well, I have really enjoyed what you've come up with so far,” she said with a smile, wanting to offer encouragement. “But I don't mind spending the time with you doing things at either of our homes, either.”

“That's good,” he said, relaxing. “And you're happy with other things?” She must have looked confused because he looked down, as though he had hoped she would have caught his meaning without having to go into more detail. “What I mean is, the physical aspects of the relationship. I find them to be more enjoyable with you then when I was pretending with Janine--”

“Probably because you actually like me,” she interrupted with a smile. “But yes, they're fine. I enjoy kissing you very much, and I'm in no rush for things to move forward. Whenever it happens it happens, if it happens at all.”

He grinned back slightly and pulled her close. “I suppose there are more good parts to being in a legitimate relationship than bad, then,” he said as she put her arms around his neck. He was quiet for a moment and she could see him concentrating as the chorus ended. She took a moment and really listened to it herself when the final verse started.

_Say if I could_  
_Look into myself and see reason_  
_But I could never never see_  
_Or make sense of the dealings_  
_Turn around_  
_Am I looking at salvation_  
_Make me realize all that I am_  
_You put the light inside this man_

_You're so fine_  
_Lose my mind_  
_And the world seems to disappear_  
_All the problems_  
_All the fears_  
_And the world seems to disappear_

“I know that song quite well,” he said after a moment as the chorus began to repeat again.

“You should, considering how many times you said you've listened to my iPod since you stole it from me,” she said with a smile. “I had INXS's greatest hits album on there, along with a few other assorted tracks.”

“It's a very appropriate song for how I look at you,” he said after a moment. “No matter the state of my day or my life or the world at large, when I'm with you I tend to forget about it all. I feel better when I'm with you, and I feel that you make me a better person. I'm glad to have you in my life.”

“I'm glad to be in your life, Sherlock,” she said, her smile widening. He looked as though he might say something else, maybe something quite important, but he shook his head slightly and leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back softly. Maybe one day he would tell her he loved her. Maybe he never would. But she could wait and see, because she'd realized some time ago that she was head over heels for him. One day, maybe soon, she'd tell him because he deserved to know. But for now she would wait and see what lead he took in bringing it up and simply enjoy the time she got to spend with him.


End file.
